Bettie Awards

2019 Elizabeth Barker Delaplaine Award for Young Artists

Bettie Delaplaine was a lifelong supporter of the arts in Frederick County, Maryland. Her strong belief in the importance of the arts in our community, and the importance of supporting young emerging artists, inspired The Delaplaine Arts Center to create the Elizabeth Barker Delaplaine Award for Young Artists in her honor. The award program is an annual event run in March, nationally recognized as Youth Art Month.

Application Guidelines

Artists residing or attending school in Frederick County, Maryland in grades 9-12 are invited to apply for this award. There is no application fee.

Applications must be submitted on or before February 1, 2019. Teachers: PLEASE encourage your students to complete the submission on their own.

Submitted artwork:
• Must have been created by the applicant within the past year.
• Must not measure more than 5 ft. in any direction.
• Can be in any medium.

IMPORTANT: Artists who are selected as finalists are required to properly prepare their artwork for exhibit installation. Judges consider presentation an important factor when selecting the grand prize, and will not award the prize to artwork that is incomplete or poorly presented, regardless of its artistic merit.

Application process:
Artists must enter their artwork through the online EntryThingy portal linked to this website. In order to access EntryThingy, artists must first create a login and password here. Only one submission per artist will be accepted.

Guidelines and dates are subject to change. For questions about the guidelines or the application process, contact Caitlin Gill, Community Outreach Manager.

Selection and Awards

A first round jury of Delaplaine Arts Center instructors will review the email submissions and select at least 10 artists, to be named Bettie Award Finalists. Selected artworks must be delivered to the Delaplaine for an exhibit that will take place March 2 – April 26, 2019.

A separate, second-round jury of Delaplaine instructors will select one artwork from among the finalists, to be named the 2019 Bettie Award Winner. The Bettie Award Winner will receive $1,000. The other finalists will each receive $100. All finalists are expected to attend the award presentation and exhibit reception on Saturday, March 2, 2019.

The award winner will be featured in an article in the summer 2019 issue of Delaplaine Arts magazine, distributed throughout the region.

Visitors will be invited to vote for their favorite work of art from among the Bettie Award Finalists throughout the duration of the exhibit. The artwork that receives the most votes will be named the 2019 People’s Choice Winner. The People’s Choice Winner will receive $250.

2018 Bettie Awards

The following is a list of the 2018 Bettie Award finalists. Their artwork was selected by a group of judges for inclusion in the 2018 Bettie Award Exhibit that was on view March 3-29, 2018. A separate group of Delaplaine instructors selected one work of art from among these finalists. The winning artist, Caleb Spencer, was named the 2018 Bettie Award Winner and received a $1,000 prize at the opening reception.